This invention deals generally with stoves and furnaces and more specifically with a solar heat collector with an internal heat pipe to move the heat to a device using the heat and also including an auxiliary heat source.
Solar collectors with internal heat pipes to convey heat to devices using the heat are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,633 by Meijer et al shows such a solar collector used with a Stirling engine.
It has also been demonstrated that such a solar collector can be used with auxiliary heating, for instance from a natural gas burner. Typically, such auxiliary heat is generated within an essentially separate gas burner which is located adjacent to the solar collector structure, and the combustion products from the gas burner are directed to pass over a portion of the solar collector which has a heat pipe evaporator wick on its internal surface.
The structures of such auxiliary combustion chambers are, however, large and heavy and involve special problems. For instance, any such combustion chamber requires a massive structure, usually constructed from ceramic firebrick, for an enclosure. Essentially, the structure differs very little from a typical household furnace.
Not only must several such structures be attached to a solar collector, which may be required to move to follow the sun, but to prevent deterioration of the combustion chamber enclosures, air is usually blown through the enclosures to cool them, and any heat lost due to that cooling is wasted. Moreover, a strong support structure must be used to support the heavy weight of the several combustion chambers typically associated with a single solar collector.